Corn harvester with trash blower

ABSTRACT

A corn harvester particularly adapted for harvesting market corn has two picker heads which deliver severed ears to a takeaway conveyor. Slide panels project upwardly and outwardly from the sides of the conveyor and a specially constructed blower is disposed above the conveyor and the picker heads for directing streams of air laterally. As the crop slides down the slide panels it is cleaned of trash with counterflowing streams of air. The blower has superposed fans with front, rear, top and bottom inlets and louvered side outlets.

United States Patent Looker [4 1 Feb. 8, 1972 [54] CORN HARVESTER WITHTRASH BLOWER [72] Inventor: Olin L. Looker, Milford, Ill.

[73] Assignee: FMC Corporation, San Jose, Calif.

[22] Filed: Aug. 29, 1969 [2]] Appl. No.: 854,227

[52] US. Cl .4 ..56/106, 56/12.8 [51] Int. Cl. ..A0ld 45/02 [58] FieldofSearch ...56/18, 106, 12.8; 130/5;

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,399,740 5/1946 Hyman..56/18 3,004,277 10/1961 Allred 3,096,604 7/1963 Baker et al FOREIGNPATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 135,717 6/1960 U.S.S.R. ..56/18 PrimaryExaminerl ,ouis G. Mancene Assistant Examiner-J. N. Eskovitz Attorney-F.W. Anderson and C. E. Tripp [57] ABSTRACT A com harvester particularlyadapted for harvesting market corn has two picker heads which deliversevered ears to a takeaway conveyor. Slide panels project upwardly andoutwardly from the sides of the conveyor and a specially constructedblower is disposed above the conveyor and the picker heads for directingstreams of air laterally. As the crop slides down the slide panels it iscleaned of trash with counterflowing streams of air. The blower hassuperposed fans with .front, rear, top and bottom inlets and louveredside outlets.

4 Claims, 10 Drawing Figures INVENTOR. OLlN L. LOCKER ATTORNEYS PATENTEUFEB 8872 SHEET 2 OF T m m FEM PATENTED FEB 8 I972 SHEET 3 0F 7 fi m-MimiPATENIEDZFEB em 3.640055 SHEET 5 BF T F'IB E PATENTED FEB 81972 SHEET 6OF T PATENTEU FEB 8l972 sum 7 OF 7 SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In the fieldharvesting of fresh market com, it is important that the crop be clearof trash such as corn stalk leaves or segments, stalk segments, etc.Conventional corn harvesters carry at least two picker heads fortraversing the rows and these heads include stalk guides, snapping rollsand severed ear conveyors which drop the severed ears onto a crop ortakeaway conveyor for later disposal by the harvester. Because of thestalk severing action taking place in the picker heads, a certain amountof trash such as leaf and stalk fragments may be deposited by the pickerheads onto the takeaway conveyor. Under the present invention this loosetrash is blown from the crop immediately after it has left the pickerheads.

Although the space for a blower is quite limited, under the presentinvention an effective blower which will deliver-relatively large,laterally directed streams of air, can be placed over the takeawayconveyor and between the delivery throats of the picker heads. Alsoprovided under the present invention are slide panels at each side ofthe conveyor just downstream of the delivery heads and facing theblower. As the crop drops from the picker head throats toward theconveyor, it slides down along the slide panels and receives directedlaterally directed streams of air. These streams are guided by the slidepanels and hence flow counter to the dropping motion of the severed earsas they are deposited on those panels. These counterflow streams of airpick up loose trash of the type referred to above and blows it clear ofthe harvester before it is carried to the remainder of the machine bythe takeaway conveyor.

Under the present invention the blower is specially constructed toprovide free breathing and even though it occupies a restricted space.This is accomplished by a double blower and partition construction inconjunction with superposed fan blades. Air can enter the fan bladesfrom the front and the rear as well as from above and below. Sidelouvers are arranged to direct the streams of air leaving the fan bladesinto lateral flow, as previously described.

BRIEF DESCRIPTIon OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. I is a perspective of a two-rowharvester embodying the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view of the harvester.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the harvester with parts broken away.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary plan of the harvester at the blowerinstallation.

FIG. 5 is a section taken on line 5-5 of FIG. 4.

FIG. 6 is a section taken on line 66 of FIG. 4.

FIG. 7 is a perspective of housing elements of the blower construction.

FIG. 8 is a side view of the blower assembly with parts broken away.

FIG. 9 is a plan of the blower assembly with parts broken away.

FIG. 10 is a section taken on line l010 of FIG. 9.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION A two-row corn harvester of the type selected toillustrate an embodiment of the present invention is described in detailin my copending U.S. application, Ser. No. 675,467, filed Oct. 16, 1967,now U.S. Pat. No. 3,499,272, issued Mar. 10, I970 and assigned to theFMC Corporation. The trash blower B of the present invention isspecially positioned with respect to the picker heads and the takeawayor crop conveyor, but the details of these and other elements of theharvester are not critical to the invention and hence will be describedonly briefly. Reference can be made to my aforesaid copendingapplication for such design details, but it will be apparent that exceptfor the physical relation of the picker heads to the conveyor, otherharvesters having two picker heads of the conventional type can also bemodified to embody the present invcntion.

The harvesting machine 20 (FIGS. l-3) includes a frame 21- supported bysteerable rear wheels 22 and is driven by powered front wheels 23. Anoperator at a control station 24 manipulates hydraulic controls at aconsole 25 which govern various power mechanisms, later mentioned, thatderive hydraulic power from a main pump 26 (FIG. 3) driven by the shaft27 of an engine A.

As shown diagrammatically in FIG. 3, the wheels 23 each have a gearreduction hub 23a which is coupled, through a brake 28, and an axle 29to a differential unit 30. Transmission assembly 31 is mechanicallycoupled to the differential and is driven by a hydraulic motor 31a whichis hydraulically connected to controls at the console 25. In order todrive the hydraulic motor 31a for the transmission, a V-belt and pulleyunit 32 is connected to the shaft 27 (FIG. 3) of engine A, and to theshaft of a hydraulic pump 34 (FIG. 2) for the transmission motor 31a.

Mounted on the front of the harvesting machine 20 are laterally spacedpicking heads PI and P2, each head being arranged to straddle a row ofcornstalks C that lie along the centerlines R (FIG. 3). The pickingheads can be pivoted upward, about a common horizontal pivot axis at 38(FIG. 2) by energizing a double-acting hydraulic cylinder 39 and anidentical cylinder, not shown, at the other side of the machine. Thepicking heads are interconnected by a tie bar 38a so as to movesimultaneously about their common pivot axis. The piston rods of thecylinders 39 can be locked in intermediate positions to regulate theheight of the free ends of the picking heads from the ground line G whenthe harvesting machine is in operation.

Continuing with the general description of the harvesting machine 20,the picking heads P1 and P2 function when the machine is driven alongthe rows of stalks, to pull the stalks downward onto the ground, whilethe ears E are severed from the stalks and conveyed rearwardly withinthe picking head.

Each picking head discharges the harvested ears E along a path indicatedgenerally at El (FIG. 6) onto the level inlet end of a takeaway or cropconveyor 40. Guide panels 41 at each side of the conveyor 40 act asslide plates to guide the cars down onto the conveyor (See FIG. 5).

In accordance with the present invention, laterally directed air blastsfrom the blower B impinge on the cars at the slide panels 41. Bothpanels are tilted outward, as shown in FIG. 5, so that loose foliage andall other trash material lighter than the ears is blown up and over thepanels onto the ground. After extending a short distance rearwardly, theconveyor 40 moves upwardly under the control station 24 (FIG. 2) anddischarges the ears along into a hopper 42.

The bottom of the hopper comprises an endless slat-type conveyor 44 thatdischarges the ears onto a cross conveyor 46. Conveyor 46 is masked offat the left side of the machine by a wall 48 and delivers the ears tothe right side of the machine. Pivotally connected to the machine frameand aligned with the cross conveyor 46 is an elevator conveyor 50,(FIGS. 1 and 2) here illustrated in its upright position, that is usedwhen the harvesting machine is moved to and from the cornfield. In aharvesting operation, the elevator conveyor 50 is inclined so as todischarge the ears into an attendant truck or wagon moved along with theharvesting machine.

The picking heads P1 and P2, and the conveyors 40, 44, 46 and 50 areeach driven by individual hydraulic motors (only the motor for thepicking head P1 being shown) which are hydraulically connected to thepump 26, by connectors not shown, these being details not essential tothe present invention.

With more detailed reference to the structure of the picking heads P1and P2 employed in the harvester embodying the present invention, eachhead has cooperating right and left sections comprising lead-in noseplates 52 and gathering chains 54. Opposed ear conveyors 60, 60a and 62,62a are also provided (FIG. 3), which conveyors may have moving lowerbutt stops b (FIG. 6) as claimed in my aforesaid cope nding application.

The ear conveyors of the picker heads provide severed ear deliverythroats 63, 64 (FIGS. 3 and 4) which deliver the ears to the conveyor40-between the blower B and the slide plates 41.

Below the entrance section of the ear conveyors are the conventionalsnapping rolls for pulling down on the cornstalks and severing the earstherefrom. One snapping roll 65 of the picking head P1 appears in FIG. 6but since these elements are conventional and their details not criticalto the present invention, their construction and drive mechanisms arenot illustrated. A suitable snapping roll assembly and drive isdescribed in my aforesaid pending application.

A stalk ejector rotor assembly 66 is shown mounted above the earconveyors, but the details of this construction are not critical to thepresent invention. The stalk ejector clears the picker heads of severalstalks and some leaves, but not completely enough to obviate theadvantages of the final cleaning action performed by the blower B underthe present invention. A complete example of a suitable stalk ejectordrive and construction is given in my aforesaid copending application.

BLOWER CONSTRUCTION Having described the general construction of aharvester embodying the present invention, including the relation of theblower to the picker heads, takeaway conveyor and slide plates at theside of that conveyor for cleaning the severed ears of trash, a detaileddescription of a preferred blower construction will now be presented.

Referring to FIGS. 7-10, the blower B includes a housing indicatedgenerally at 70. A tandem fan indicated generally at F is driven by ahydraulic motor 72 (FIGS. 6 and 8) operated by the usual connections(not shown) from the main hydraulic pump (FIG. 3). Although only limitedspace is available for the blower mounting (see FIGS. 3 and 4), theblower housing and fan are constructed so that powerful, laterallydirected blasts of air are generated. This results from a free breathingconstruction wherein the blower has front, rear, bottom and top airinlets to the fan. This compact, free breathing and high deliveryconstruction is facilitated by the housing and tandem fan constructionwhich, in effect, divides the blower into two sections, each of whichhas two inlets and two laterally directed outlets, these sections beingsuperposed.

The blower housing is made up of sheet metal parts bent and assembled toprovide the four inlets and four outlets previously described, in thefollowing manner.

The blower has opposed side louver mounting channels 74, 76 to which arewelded downwardly and upwardly projecting curved louvers. For example,the channel 74 has four downwardly projecting louvers 78 welded to theflange 79 of the channel and four upwardly projecting louvers 80 weldedto the upper flange 81 of the channel (FIGS. 7 and 1 Similarly, thechannel 76 has welded to its lower flange 82 (FIG. a set of downwardlyprojecting louvers 84 and projecting from the upper flange 86 of thechannel is a set of upwardly projecting louvers 88. Thus the louvers 78,80 on one side provide outlets for a laterally directed stream of air onone side of the lower housing and the louvers 84, 88 provide similaroutlets on the other side of the housing.

A lower fan casing is provided by front and rear channels 90, 92 (FIGS.7 and 8) spanning the louver channels 74, 76. Similarly an upper fancasing is formed by channels 94, 96. The two fan vcasings are verticallyseparated by an angled partition 100 which extends from the lower flange102 of the upper cross channel 96 to the upper flange 104 of the lowercross channel 90. In the example given, the divider plate 100 forms anangle with the horizontal of about 22 W.

The bottom of the blower housing is substantially open but the top ofthe housing is partially closed by cover strips 110, 112 (FIGS. 9 and10) running along each side of the housing. These cover strips assist inpreventing the inadvertent falling of cars of corn or trash into theblower housing without functionally obstructing the upper air inlet tothe housing.

The fan F has a vertical shaft 116 which is mounted in a swivel bearingassembly 118 of conventional construction at the center of the dividerplate (FIG. 8 and 10). Another antifriction bearing I20 supports the fanshaft on longitudinal rails 122 that span the upper channels 94, 96(FIG. 9). The rails have inwardly projecting tabs 126 for mounting thehousing of the upper fan bearing 120. The rails 122, 124 are bolted tothe front and rear channels 94, 96 by means of outwardly projecting tabs128, as seen in FIG. 9. The rails 122 have rearward extensions whichmount tabs 130 (FIG. 4) for adj ustably supporting a plate 132 thatmounts the hydraulic drive motor 72 for the fan, previously mentioned.As best seen in FIGS. 8 and 10, the tandem fan F has a lower section andan upper section 142. These fan sections are substantially identical andare made up of four radial fan blades 144 bolted in staggered hubformation to the fan shaft 116 (FIG. 9). Triangular gusset plates 146span the fan blades 144 as seen in FIGS. 9 and 10. The fan shaft 116 isdriven by a pulley 150, a V-belt 152 and a motor pulley 154 on the shaftof the motor 72. Thus the blower housing provides a relatively openbottom air inlet and a rearwardly facing air inlet 162 (FIG. 8) for thelower fan section 140. The lower louvers 78, 84 distribute streams ofair in a lateral direction submitted through the inlets 160, 162 asimpelled by the lower fan section 140.

The upper fan section 142 receives air from upper inlet 164 between thecover strips 110, 112 (FIG. 9) and through a front inlet 166 above thedivider plate 100 (FIGS. 7 and 8).

As seen in FIG. 9, the louvers 86 are concave and in the example givenare formed on a radius of about 3% inches. As seen in FIG. 9, theconcave faces of the respective louvers face the approaching fan bladesand hence pick up the streams of air generated by the fan blades andredirect them so that they emerge from the blower housing in asubstantially lateral direction.

The means for mounting the blower housing 70 above the conveyor 40 andbetween the delivery throats 63, 64 of the picker head is not criticalto the present invention. In the harvester shown the blower is supportedon brackets 170 (FIGS. 5 and 6) which project rearwardly from theframework supporting the tie bar 38. I

To give some of the preferred dimensions of the illustrated preferredblower construction, the diameter of the rotor blades 144 when assembledis 14 inches and each of the fan sections 140, 142 is 4% inches inheight. The fan is driven at 2,270 rpm. The width of the housing 70 is20 inches, its length along the longitudinal dimension of the cornharvester is 16 inches and the housing is about lo-inches high.

OPERATION The operation of the harvester embodying the present invention has been briefly mentioned, but will be further explained insomewhat more detail.

As the harvester of the present invention proceeds down the rows,cornstalks C pass between the gathering belts 54 and the pickup headconveyors, such as conveyors 60, 60a (FIG. 6). The corn stalks aregripped between the snapping rolls, one of which 65, is shown in FIG. 6.The rolls pull the ears downwardly against the moving butt stops b onthe ear conveyors 60, 60a and the roll knives sever the ears from thestalks, all as described in detail in my copending application.

The severed ears are carried rearwardly by the picker conveyors 60, 60a,and 62, 62a whereupon they are delivered by the throats 63, 64 (FIGS. 3and 4) and drop along the trajectory E1 (FIG. 6) between the slideplates 41 and the blower B (FIG. 5). As the ears fall along the slideplates 41 and in front of the respective side louvers of the blower theyare subjected to the force of the laterally directed streams of airemanating from the blower, which blows leaves and trash away from theears. In addition, a number of the ears fall on the slide plates 41 andslide down towards the conveyor 40 (FIG. 5). Ears partaking of thismotion receive the cleaning effect of counterflow currents of airbecause the lateral air streams are directed upwardly by the deflectingand baffling action of the slide plates 41. The trash and leaves T (FIG.5) thus blown clear of the ears continue on upwardly and outwardly clearof the harvester.

Thus it can be seen in accordance with the present invention, thatalthough a limited space is available, above the conveyor and behindpicker heads for the mountingof a blower, effective use of this space ismade by a powerful, free breathing blower that directs oppositelyflowing streams of air across the ears of corn being delivered by thepicker heads..

These streams of air are guided and deflected by slide plates for theears which form counterflow air streams for effectively cleaning thetrash from the ears and for blowing the trash out of the harvester.

Although the best mode contemplated for carrying out the presentinvention has been herein shown and described it will be apparent thatmodification and variation may be made without departing from what isregarded to be the subject matter of the invention as set forth in theappended claims.

What is claimed is:

l. A com harvester comprising a pair of laterally spaced picking heads,said picker heads including paired conveyors for the severed ears andforming laterally spaced delivery throats, a rearwardly moving cropconveyor disposed below and spanning said paired conveyor deliverythroats, crop slide panels projecting upwardly and outwardly from saidcrop conveyor at said delivery throats, and blower means disposed abovesaid crop conveyor and between said delivery throats for directingstreams of air laterally against the panels and up along the crop as itslides down slide panels to clean the sliding crop of trash withcounterflow streams of air, said blower means comprising a housinghaving a forwardly inclined divider plate, a vertical shaft, a fansection on said shaft above and below said divider plate, means formingair inlet throats to both sides of said divider plate, air deliverythroats having vertical louvers on each side of said fan sections, andfans in said fan sections.

2. The harvester of claim 1 wherein said louvers are concave with theconcavities facing approaching blades of the fan sections.

3. The harvester of claim 1, wherein said housing is also open top andbottom to provide additional air inlets to said fan sections.

4. The harvester of claim 3, wherein fore and aft side cover stripspartially cover the top of said fan housing for excluding ears of cornfrom the housing.

1. A corn harvester comprising a pair of laterally spaced picking heads,said picker heads including paired conveyors for the severed ears andforming laterally spaced delivery throats, a rearwardly moving cropconveyor disposed below and spanning said paired conveyor deliverythroats, crop slide panels projecting upwardly and outwardly from saidcrop conveyor at said delivery throats, and blower means disposed abovesaid crop conveyor and between said delivery throats for directingstreams of air laterally against the panels and up along the crop as itslides down slide panels to clean the sliding crop of trash withcounterflow streams of air, said blower means comprising a housinghaving a forwardly inclined divider plate, a vertical shaft, a fansection on said shaft above and below said divider plate, means formingair inlet throats to both sides of said divider plate, air deliverythroats having vertical louvers on each side of said fan sections, andfans in said fan sections.
 2. The harvester of claim 1 wherein saidlouvers are concave with the concavities facing approaching blades ofthe fan sections.
 3. The harvester of claim 1, wherein said housing isalso open top and bottom to provide additional air inlets to said fansections.
 4. The harvester of claim 3, wherein fore and aft side coverstrips partially cover the top of said fan housing for exCluding ears ofcorn from the housing.